Bowling ball



April 22, 1952 J. A. JUZA 2,593,565

BOWLING BALL I Filed Oct. 10, 1949 QJZW My WFW r23 Patented Apr. 22, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to manually propelled balls and more specifically to bowling balls having finger and thumb contact openings.

The game of bowling is very old. The usual balls used have rather deep wells to receive the thumb and one or more fingers. While these well openings do aid in grasping the ball, they do not give complete nor adequate control of the ball just prior to and at the moment of release of the ball. Some manufacturers and users have attempted to gain greater control by forming ridges or the like within the wells. Such means, however, does not permit smooth release of the ball and fails utterly to aid the free fingers extending around the ball to control and guide the ball during the cast.

Therefore, the principal object of my invention is to provide a bowling ball that has a finger tip grip control for at least one of the free fingers of the hand holding the ball.

A further object of my invention is to provide a suction contact for at least one of the fingers holding the ball.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a controllable bowling ball that is economical in manufacture and durable in use.

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of my bowling ball with dotted lines showing the position of a hand thereon.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of one of the suction control depressions in the ball surface.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the part of the ball shown in Fig. 2 and is taken on line 33 of that figure.

Referring to the drawings I have used the numeral Ill to designate an ordinary bowling ball having the usual finger well H. A thumb well is usually present in such balls and there may be more than one finger well ll therein. It is to such a ball that I apply my invention and which I will now describe. I form a circular depression l2 in the surface of the ball as shown in Fig. 3. This depression is shallow and evenly concave, as shown in the drawings. I next drill or otherwise form in the depression a, plurality of small spaced apart wells [3, as shown in Fig. 2. These wells [3 each extend into the ball at a right angle to the concave surface of the depression and have their upper edge beveled. This bevel I4 is shown in Fig. 3 and eliminates any sharp edge. Any number of these depressions and associated wells l3 may be formed in the ball surface. In fact, one may be provided for the tip end of each of the free fingers holding the ball. In the drawings I show two such depressions, i. e., one for the third finger and one for the little finger. In use the finger tip is placed in the depression as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. The depressions properly center and position the free fingers as well as providing further gripping action on the ball.

This alone makes for control and accuracy in casting the ball. The cluster of small vacuum or suction cups [3 within each depression, however, cause the finger tips to materially adhere to the ball, thereby giving complete control until after the ball is released. This adhering characteristic of my ball is suiiicient to give an audible sound as the finger tips leave the depressions I2.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have provided a highly desirable controllable bowling ball and one that is easy and comfortable to handle.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of my bowling ball without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims, any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim:

1. In a bowling ball having at least two finger receiving wells therein for engaging the thumb and at least one other finger of a bowler, the combination of at least one finger-tip-engaging shallow depression in the spherical surface of the ball for positioning one of the remaining fingers, the ball being provided with at least one small shallow bore extending inwardly from the surface of said depression and acting as a suction cup for engagement with a finger tip positioned in said depression.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 in which the depression is symmetrically arcuately concave and the bore extends radially thereof.

3. The structure defined in claim 1 in which the rim of the bore is smoothly beveled.

JOHN A. JUZA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,011,760 Gallinant Aug. 20, 1935 2,472,406 Darula June 7, 1949 

